Massage
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: Tao knows one way to help with pain.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary** : M-21 sighed as he went up the stairs from the lab — it had only been a few minutes since he'd stopped practicing his transformation and he could already feel the muscles in his hands stiffening, resisting when he tried to flex them.

I guess set during season 3.

I made this a new fic since it seems like it'll be a series, hah.

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 **Massage  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

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M-21 sighed as he went up the stairs from the lab — it had only been a few minutes since he'd stopped practicing his transformation and he could already feel the muscles in his hands stiffening, resisting when he tried to flex them.

He could hear soft voices from the living room and he was greeted with Takeo and Tao's smiles when he pushed the door open with the side of his hand.

"Yooo," Tao said, waving as M-21 walked over, Takeo holding a cup out for him. "How'd the training go?"

"Fine," M-21 said as he took the offered cup from Takeo. Tao grabbed his free hand before he could do anything with it and M-21 blinked as Tao pressed his thumbs into his palm.

"What-" It was Tao — he tended to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

"Your hands are stiff," Tao said, still focused on M-21's hand, moving his thumbs closer to M-21's fingers. Damn, he'd noticed? "Yeah, M, of course I noticed."

M-21 tried to tug his hand back but Tao's grip was firm. He glanced at Takeo and found no calculating look on his face so he relaxed a little. They weren't judging him for his weakness.

"It's nothing," he muttered. "They get like that after I practice my transformation." It wasn't something that needed attention. It would go away after a while; it always did.

"Every time?" Tao had started on his fingers, rotating them.

"No..." Sometimes it happened when he'd pushed himself too far and he ached for the next hour, and other times it happened when he'd had to cut his training short.

Tao hummed and then lifted M-21's hand to kiss it at the knuckle. "There, how's that?"

"Better," M-21 said, flexing his hand once Tao let go. He could move it without it twitching or jerking. And Tao kissing his hand like that was just Tao being Tao — there was no point trying to make sense of it other than the other man felt like doing it.

Tao nodded, then held his hand up towards the hand M-21 was holding the cup with. "Gimmie."

He moved the cup to the other hand. "It's fine, Tao," he said as he surrendered his hand, but he knew Tao would whine until he gave it over. "The cup warmed it up."

"What's the point in only massaging one hand?" Tao asked as he started. "That's not enough."

M-21 sighed. "I don't know why it's so important," he muttered. His enhanced healing would take care of it.

Tao jerked his head up at him and _squawked_. "Not important?" he spluttered. " _Takeo!_ "

M-21 looked across at Takeo, whose lips were twitching. "Hands are Tao's lifeblood. They're the most important part of him-"

"Apart from my brain, of course."

"-so he needs to know how to look after them properly or else he can't do what needs to be done."

"Exactly," Tao said, nodding, focusing back on M-21's hand. "And there's no way I'd let anyone else misuse their hands if I can help it!"

Obviously.

Tao was almost done so M-21 would get his hand back soon. And after that he could start drinking the tea that had cooled since he'd first gotten it.

This would only happen once, so he didn't have to think about it again once Tao was finished.

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There was supposed to be scenes where the rest of the household or at least Takeo, Tao and Frankenstein were going to start pampering M-21 and give him stuff to help him look after his hands, but the fic decided to cut short.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary** : Recovering after a fight.

Written for the anon who suggested continuing this fic, heh. :D Not quite M-21-centric, but ah well.

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 **Massage  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

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M-21 exhaled, trying to work out where he was. He was in the house, but he wasn't in his room. And Takeo and Tao were in the room with him. Knowing that, it didn't surprise him to see the recovery room ceiling when he opened his eyes.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Tao said, smiling as he sat on a chair next to M-21's bed. "How you feeling?"

"Like someone hit me with a truck." Because he had been. He was sure someone had to pick blue paint out his skin.

Tao's smile turned wry. "Yeah, you worried us for a sec when I couldn't see where you'd gone. But it's good to see you're snarking the same as ever."

M-21 grunted as he sat up, his muscles protesting but he ignored them. "The others?" he asked, looking at Takeo and Tao.

"Alive and resting," Takeo said, sitting on the edge of the other bed, and there was no tightness in his tone or body language, so the others hadn't been close to dying.

"Because _someone_ drew all the aggro," Tao added. After all the games the children had invited M-21 to play, he was starting to understand what Tao was saying without too much trouble. "Good job."

M-21 looked away and shrugged. He was only doing what he was told; there was nothing special about that.

"After that, you need a break, so kick back and relax!"

M-21 rolled his eyes, and that was as far as he got before Tao grabbed his hand and started massaging it. He'd gotten used to it, Tao taking a hand and massaging it whenever he saw they were stiffer than usual. But at least Takeo hadn't-

He jerked his head to stare over his shoulder, his eyes wide. Takeo's hands were warm against his bare shoulders (because he'd lost his shirt a few minutes into the fight and he was surprised Tao hadn't commented on it yet). He hadn't started massaging just yet, but Takeo was flexing his hands, probing the tenseness of his shoulders with his fingertips.

"Heh," Tao said, dragging M-21's attention back to him. "Takeo's good with his hands, take it from me. They can make you melt."

M-21 glanced at Takeo again, whose smile curled up further at the corners. "Tao's shoulders get stiff when he works on his computers for too long."

"Which is all the time," M-21 muttered.

"Comment all you like," Tao said, his hands not pausing, "but we're not leaving."

Damn. "Fine," M-21 said, shuffling over to give Takeo better access. "You've talked about this." Because there was no way Takeo would do this without Tao's prodding first.

"Mm." Tao didn't look up, working his palm. "I figured your shoulders might be another stress point, seeing how you attack."

M-21 shrugged out of habit and then shot Takeo an apologetic look when Takeo's hands moved. Takeo shook his head and kept going.

"They're not as bad as my hands," M-21 admitted. When it happened, he could still rotate his shoulders better in comparison.

M-21 couldn't stop his sharp inhale when Takeo pressed down on tense muscles, the pressure obvious, but not hard enough to hurt. He arched his back, trying to both move towards and away from the feeling, too used to associating a grab like that with pain to come even while a part of him was wanting _more_. He would blame the wolf instincts that he sometimes couldn't tease apart from his own reactions, but he couldn't blame them for _everything_.

"See?" Tao said, and M-21 could _hear_ the snicker in his voice. "Told ya he was good."

M-21 would have replied, but he was too aware of Takeo's hands, trying to anticipate what he would do next, Tao's hands distracting him enough to make Takeo's movement a surprise.

He found himself leaning back into Takeo's touch, relaxing further and closing his eyes while Tao talked about a new game he'd found out about and was wanting to try together once they'd all recovered.

M-21 turned his head towards the door, his nose twitching. That smelled like food.

"Mmn, someone started cooking just before you woke up," Tao said, and M-21 was sure he should have finished by now and Tao was still going because M-21 hadn't told him to stop yet. "I'm betting Boss."

M-21 snorted. The only other option was Seira and he doubted she would have been moving around that much so soon after the fight.

"You ready?" Tao asked as Takeo handed him a shirt.

"Yeah." Pulling on the shirt wasn't as difficult as it usually was after a fight. "Thanks..."

"No problem," Tao said, slinging an arm around his shoulders after he stood up and Takeo was on his other side as they left the room. Both close enough to support him if he needed it.

Frankenstein was placing a couple of plates on the table when the three of them arrived and when Tao let go of M-21, Takeo stepped closer to make up with it.

M-21 shook his head, amused (and a little glad) but he knew they weren't doing it because they thought he was weak — they were worried, and he would have done the same if their roles were reversed. "I'm not going to fall over."

"You might not," Tao said, and he was — trying to bustle Frankenstein into a chair, to the point of _poking him_ , "but I know someone else who shouldn't be on his feet for that long either."

Frankenstein shot Tao an amused look. "I am perfectly capable of st-"

"Siiit!"

"Very well." Frankenstein sat down. There were dark shadows under his eyes; not as bad as Tao's but that was Tao. It was just the fact they were visible in the first place...

Since M-21 had been comparing Frankenstein's bags with Tao, he saw Tao throw Takeo a grin and M-21 recognised that look enough times to know Tao was about to start something again.

Frankenstein was already glancing between Takeo and Tao. He'd probably noticed M-21's reaction. "And what are you two planning?"

"Nothing, Boss," Tao said, taking Frankenstein's hand. "The plan's already in motion." Takeo hesitated for a second, but then walked over to Frankenstein.

They weren't... They were.

Takeo's hands didn't rest on Frankenstein's shoulders, but at his temple instead and Frankenstein hummed when they both started. Takeo's movements were slow at first as he watched Frankenstein, but when Frankenstein didn't say anything or pull away, his movements became more confident.

"I thought the point of me to sit was to eat," Frankenstein said, "unless someone else is going to feed me as well?" He raised an amused eyebrow at M-21.

"...No." If Frankenstein needed to be fed because he couldn't do it himself, M-21 would do it, but until then he would keep his hands to himself.

But with how thing were moving, M-21 had to wonder how long it would be until the whole household was involved with the massages.

...Knowing Tao, it would be far sooner than later.


End file.
